


Late

by unknownlifeform



Series: Mako green and Dust gold [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Canon Compliant, Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII) Spoilers, Daemon Settling, Daemon Touching, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Pre-Canon, Warning: Hojo (Compilation of FFVII), some pseudo scientific stuff around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknownlifeform/pseuds/unknownlifeform
Summary: Aerith is a normal girl - or she strives to be, at least. Nevermind she's supposedly an Ancient, or that she can hear the Planet whispering things at her, or that her daemon seems determined to settle as late as possible.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Series: Mako green and Dust gold [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801477
Kudos: 28





	Late

**Author's Note:**

> ...I did not plan for this fic to be this long. One moment I was writing the first scenes and the next I was at 7k.  
> Comments feed the author

On her fifteenth birthday, Aerith woke up, and not a minute later Asa was jumping on her bed.

"Get up old lady!" he shouted. He hopped over Aerith's legs, going back and forth.

"Who are you calling old?" Aerith laughed.

Birthdays were good days. Her mom didn't always have money for gifts, but made up for it by trying to make Aerith all her favorite foods and spending time with her. Besides, birthdays always came with a visit from Tseng too, trying to convince Aerith to come back to Shinra. It never worked, but he always left a few gils as a gift.

No parties, because Aerith did not have a lot of friends, but she didn't miss it. Being with her mom was enough.

Aerith stood up, stretching. She could smell from her room the cake mom had made, and couldn't wait to get a slice of it.

"Happy birthday!" Elmyra said, seeing Aerith come down. "Come here!"

Aerith ran to her, letting mom hug her and kiss her.

When Elmyra went to get Aerith her breakfast, Asa jumped on the table, changing from hare to cat.

"Don't worry about it," Elmyra said. Aerith looked away from her daemon to see mom smiling at her. "There's nothing wrong with being a late bloomer."

True. Elmyra had been telling that to Aerith for a while now, when Aerith had started worrying that Asa still hadn't settled. They weren't super late yet, but it was still later than many others.

Besides, she was _fifteen_ now. It was different to be fourteen and to be fifteen. It was only one day, but it was an important day. Elmyra's own daemon had settled when she was thirteen.

Aerith's other mom... Aerith had no idea. If she ever told Aerith about it, Aerith had been too little to remember. She had heard sometimes being a little early or late ran in the family. Maybe Aerith's biological parents had also been late bloomers.

***

Some might say Aerith had many friends, but in truth she didn't.

She _knew_ a lot of people. She could call most kids in Sector 5 by name, and often their daemons' as well. She got along well enough with many too.

But she had never really been part of a group, the kind that met up every afternoon and ran off to play together. She never had that sort of bond. She moved around from one little group to another, tagging along to their games. There weren't a lot of people who treated her badly, but there was also no one who invited her at their house for a sleepover. She would just go home alone at the end of her day.

Sometimes Aerith wondered if it was because she was different. She didn't tell people about the voices she heard sometimes, or... all those things about her past, she tried to keep it hidden from everyone. Tried to forget too, some days. But people still told her she was a little strange. Even if they didn't tell it to her face, Aerith would overhear it sometimes.

Maybe she wasn't so good at hiding as she thought. Maybe it was impossible to hide.

And then there was Asa.

Two houses from Aerith lived a family with two children. Ryan was oldest, and Aerith's elder, while Sarah was one year younger than her. Both of their daemons had settled at age twelve. An orange cat and a duck.

Alex was one year older than Aerith, an orphan who got by doing small jobs for people. She had fixed Aerith's roof once. Her daemon had settled when she was thirteen, as a small lizard.

Not a lot of people played with Tao, whose family was from Wutai. Aerith thought it was mean, because she was a nice kid. She was only eleven, but her daemon had already settled as a sparrow.

Nana used to live in Mideel, before her parents moved to Midgar. She always spoke about how she missed her old town. Her daemon was a long-legged bird she said was common in Mideel, and had been one since age thirteen.

Lucas's mother had been Elmyra's friend since they were children. He was funny and friendly with everyone. His daemon had settled at fourteen as a golden retriever, after spending a few months switching between various dog breeds.

Aerith walked to her church, passing past all those other kids, Asa trotting next to her as a fox. Alex fixing pipes at Tao's house while she handed her the tools she needed, Ryan heading off to work, Nana babysitting two younger children. Aerith waved at them as she walked by, and they said hi to her.

No one stopped her for a chat. They rarely ever did.

Aerith wondered what they thought about seeing Asa still unsettled. She wasn't the last one in the neighborhood to settle, but it was starting to be a little late. Kids who had settled often saw themselves as almost an adult, already, and those who hadn't as childish. Immature.

Aerith didn't think she was. Actually, adults often told her she was a good, smart girl. But why was it taking Asa so long?

***

"Why do you keep not settling?" Aerith asked.

Asa looked at her with his weasel eyes. "Because I don't know what to be."

"Don't you have any ideas?"

Asa sighed. "I like to walk on four legs, and I like to have fur. I like mammals. Might end up as one."

"But?"

"But that's about it. Nothing I try seems right."

"You were a goat for two weeks last month."

"Goats are nice, but they're not right. Look, I don't know what I'm supposed to be."

Aerith bit her lip. "But if you figure out, you would settle?"

"Maybe." Asa sighed. "Listen, maybe we're just not ready. Nothing wrong with that. When we will be, I'll figure it out."

"You know I won't be mad if it's a weird form? Like, some weird spider or..."

"I'm not gonna be a spider." Asa looked up at her, with all that wisdom he kept in his small eyes. "And you're not the best at accepting yourself."

Aerith crossed her arms. "We are _not_ having this conversation."

Asa liked to keep telling Aerith she shouldn't hide her nature of Ancient. At least stop acting as it it was something to be ashamed of. They were what they were. It's not as if she would just turn into a normal human if she kept denying things.

Still, Aerith didn't like to acknowledge it. It was because she and her first mom were Ancients that Shinra had kept them in the labs that Aerith did not remember well, but never wanted to go back to. It was why her mom had died. It was why Aerith heard and knew things no one else did. What good was being an Ancient? She could tell people if their loved ones had died, and just make them sad in the process.

She didn't _hate_ it, but.

It didn't have a lot of positives either.

***

"I see you still aren't settled," Tseng said, standing in Aerith's door.

Aerith sort of wanted to slam it closed in his face. "Thank you, you're a real friend."

Tseng's answering smile was tense. "You know you and I aren't friends, Aerith."

Yes, he was only there to keep her under control. Yes, he was a Turk and Turks did not have friends because they were too cool for that or something.

"I know. I also won't come back with you, before you ask."

Tseng sighed. "Aerith. Maybe we could help you find out why you are settling so late."

That was a low blow.

Aerith knew why she wasn't settling. Because Asa couldn't find the right form. It didn't have to mean anything. There didn't have to be any strange reason for it. It was strange for her to take so long, but not unheard of. She had done her research. There were at least other seventeen people her age in Midgar who hadn't settled yet. The world record was apparently of someone who had settled at eighteen years, three months and five days.

"I'm not coming. You know that."

Tseng looked at her a little more, but eventually caved. "As you wish, then. I will see you another day, Aerith."

"Sure you don't want a slice of cake?" she asked. It was polite to offer, even if he hadn't been with her.

"No, thank you."

Tseng left, and as usual gave Aerith a bag with some gil to go get herself something. A nice gift for her sixteenth birthday.

***

When she heard the noise, Aerith thought maybe the church was falling apart. It was old, and no one had taken care of the building for years.

It was only when the dust and rubble settled that she noticed the boy.

Had he fallen thought the roof? What was he even doing up there?

That couldn't have been good for him. Aerith took a few tentative steps towards him. He was alive, Aerith would have realized it if he had died. The dog daemon that had landed on his chest was also a good indicator of that. There wasn't any blood, not that Aerith could see.

All in all, for someone who had just fallen like that, he looked pretty good.

He looked _very_ good, actually. Maybe it wasn't exactly the right moment to focus on it, but it was undeniable that he was pretty.

The boy turned his head, making Aerith jump. He didn't do anything else however, just mumbled something. He said something about needing to help someone, or stop something. It wasn't making a lot of sense. Aerith hoped he was just unconscious and hadn't been hurt.

"Hello?" she called.

The boy said something again, something that vaguely sounded like _mom_. Yeah, he must be pretty out of it.

"Hello?"

Now the boy stirred, and opened the bluest eyes Aerith had ever seen.

"...an angel?" he said, blinking at up her.

His name was Zack, and his daemon Dalia. The moment she woke up and shook herself from the debris she immediately tried to bond with Asa. He turned in a dog too, and luckily Zack didn't make any comments on it.

And then he... tried to flirt with her? At least, Aerith was fairly sure he did, and she didn't know how to feel about it. People didn't usually flirt with her. Not unless they were creepy old men, at least. Her mom always told her that she was pretty, but she wasn't super popular.

Most boys her age didn't go out with girls who hadn't settled yet.

She was flattered. He was cute, and not just face wise. He was pretty weird, honestly, said a lot of strange things, and he had that huge sword on his back. But he was funny, and nice, and Aerith liked him. Maybe... she wouldn't have minded if one of these _dates_ happened again.

He even bought a ribbon for her, just because she said she liked it. Really, how many guys did that for girls they'd just met?

A dog daemon fit him well. He reminded her a little of a puppy, that was for sure.

Still, Dalia wasn't a cute little lapdog. She was a pitbull. Aerith didn't know much about dogs, but everyone said pitbulls were dangerous. Dogs people shouldn't get too close to. Yet Dalia and Zack both seemed as friendly as could be.

Maybe Aerith had just been wrong about that.

There was also something... strange, about Dalia. Aerith couldn't say that for sure, but she thought she saw her run a little too far away from Zack. Farther than daemons usually were able to.

Both things were explained when Zack confessed he was SOLDIER. Aerith should have suspected it. He wore a uniform, had that sword, and had jumped back up immediately after a fall like that. And Aerith knew SOLDIERs were given some kind of surgery that allowed them and their daemons to be far away from each other.

Aerith always expected them to be cold and intimidating, the way Sephiroth and all those other Commanders looked on Shinra posters. Scary, dangerous. She used to think her daemons must have been broken in some way.

Dalia wasn't broken. She was lively and nice and chased Asa around to play. Zack was strange, but he wasn't scary, and he certainly did not seem dangerous. He seemed good. Really good.

Maybe Aerith had been a little misjudged. About SOLDIERs, and pitbulls. Big and scary in theory, but really nice when you got to know them.

***

Asa said he felt he should be some kind of herbivore. Something with hooves. He liked hooves, apparently.

He also didn't know _what_ animal to be. He said it was like having a word on the tip of your tongue but being unable to remember what it was. A constant feeling of being almost there that frustrated him to no end.

There was a library in Sector 5, and they went through all the books on animals they could find. They had already excluded goats, even if Asa said something of them wasn't all that bad. They tried with sheep next, but that was also a no.

Horses, donkeys and zebras also had something not quite wrong, but also a lot of not right. They were too big, he said.

They kept looking. Animals everyone knew of and ones they'd never heard before. Deer, llama, more types of antelope than Aerith knew could exist, a small thing with big teeth called water deer that was frankly adorable.

Nothing fit.

***

"It doesn't bother you?" Aerith asked.

"What?"

"To date a girl whose daemon still hasn't settled."

Zack shrugged. "Why would it?"

Aerith looked down at her hands. "People say I... must be immature. If I'm still not settled. Childish, I guess."

"I don't think you are," Zack said. "You're as mature as any other girl."

That was a little comforting. Zack would know what mature looked like. After all, he was surrounded by people who were meant to be. Other SOLDIERs, Turks, Shinra employees in powerful positions. People who had big responsibilities, whose job was to lead armies.

For all that he was silly... Zack was also more mature than a lot of boys Aerith knew. He joked and played a lot of the time, but Aerith had seen his more serious side by now. He had seen war and lost friends, and he was considered a commanding officer in the army. He had had to grow.

"Besides," Zack continued, "it's not like settling makes you an adult suddenly. I was exactly the same idiot when Dalia settled than I was the day before. Sometimes it's just... knowing yourself better, I guess."

"What did you know, then?"

"That I'm adorable?" Zack said.

Aerith pushed his shoulder.

Zack scratched his head. "I guess I knew I wanted to be a hero one day. Protect people. I decided to join SOLDIER, and a couple weeks later Dalia settled."

"I see," Aerith said. A dog was a good daemon for a hero. A big, strong dog who could protect her loved ones, and then give people the most adorable goofy smile.

Was there something about herself that Aerith did not know? Was there something she missed? Something important?

"But I guess everyone's different. There was this guy in Gongaga who settled when he had his first crush. They hadn't done anything yet, he just liked the girl, and boom."

"What did his daemon settle as?"

"A ladybug."

"Appropriate." Those were symbols of love, if Aerith remembered right. "But I guess for me it did not do the trick. Shame on you."

"On me?! Why?"

"You could have gotten Asa to settle, and you didn't."

"Oh, so now I'm a terrible boyfriend?" Zack said.

"Well, you could have tried harder," Aerith replied.

"Maybe I could still make it happen, you know."

"And how?"

Suddenly, Zack's mouth snapped shut, and he turned away.

"Zack?" Aerith called, confused.

"Ah, don't take it too seriously," he said.

"I can't take it in any way if you don't tell me what you are thinking."

Zack shrugged. "It's just, you know, I heard sometimes daemons settle if they're. Um. Touched. By a boyfriend, or something."

Aerith's eyes widened. "Oh."

"But I'm not trying to pressure you or anything! It was just an idea."

Aerith had heard about it as well. It was supposed to feel really good to let someone you loved touch your daemon. Not that Aerith would know much about it. She had never had someone like that before.

Zack was still looking away, cheeks red. Making that kind of request was a serious thing, at least in Aerith's mind. She knew sometimes kids would just do that with their first crush, not thinking too much about it, but Aerith had always thought if it were to happen it should be with someone special.

Asa had been lying down next to the church bench they sat on, in the form of a small goat. He stood up, walked around to Zack, and pushed his nose against his thigh.

Zack sucked in a breath. For a few seconds he remained still, eyes darting between him and Aerith. Only when Asa nuzzled him again he took off one of his gloves, and slowly brushed his fingers against Asa's neck.

Aerith gasped. It _was_ good. She couldn't even describe it. There was the phantom feeling of Zack's fingers, but more than that there was the sensation of something brushing against her very soul, gently, lovingly.

"Did... did it work?" Zack whispered.

It hadn't. Asa became a cat, a form he rarely took as of late, and jumped on Zack's lap, purring like an engine.

"Good?"

Aerith thought her smile might have been a little dopey, but she didn't care. "Dalia, could you come here a moment?"

She had barely said that before Zack's daemon put her huge head on Aerith's thigh, wagging her tail. "Did you call?" Dalia said.

Aerith tried to scratch her behind her ears, the way regular dogs like. Zack's breath hitched, and then he made this high pitched little noise. Aerith didn't even need to ask if it was good for him as well, because Dalia's tail had started moving so fast it had turned blurry.

Maybe Asa still hadn't settled, but for the moment they forgot about it. It was hard to worry when Zack was quite literally caressing her soul, and looking at Aerith like she was the single best thing on the whole Planet.

***

On Aerith's seventeenth birthday, Zack was away on a mission. He swore up and down that he would have wanted to be there, and Aerith believed him. She knew how much time SOLDIER demanded. Even Zack's days off didn't necessarily stay off.

She still missed him. He would have cracked a joke, and made sure to distract Aerith. Her mom tried to cheer her up too, but Aerith could see Elmyra was starting to worry a little by now.

At seventeen, Aerith had officially ran out of people her age who had not settled yet.

***

There were new flowers in Aerith's garden.

Most of the ones she had had grown spontaneously, and she had just helped them propagate. Now she had new ones. Zack had bought her some bulbs while he was on a mission, and she had tried to take care of them too.

After a lot of careful checking on them and making sure the plants were all healthy, they had bloomed.

Dahlias, they were named. Which had made Aerith laugh, because that was also Zack's daemon.

They were a strange flower, but Aerith liked them. All round and puffy. The ones she had were pink, but apparently they came in many other colors too.

"Do you think we should sell these too?" Asa asked. They still hadn't started their business, but they were making plans for it.

"I don't know, we don't have many," Aerith said. "Maybe we should get them to multiply a little."

As it was, she would have felt bad selling when they were essentially a gift from her boyfriend. Not that Zack would have minded, but she did. Maybe the by next year she could have grown more.

It was exciting to have these kind of plans laid out. Aerith had never had a real job. She had done small work here and there, to bring home a handful of gils now and then, but never anything stable or long term. She hadn't ever dreamt of one, either.

Selling flowers had seemed a little strange as an idea at first, but now she was definitely convinced.

"I'm proud of ourselves," Asa said. "First time we make these grow, and they all came up so nicely."

"First time _I_ make them grow."

"I carried you the water can!"

Mom said Aerith had a knack for flowers. A talent of sorts.

The truth was that sometimes Aerith could feel a little nudge, here and there. Plant the seeds in this spot. Water them more often. Check that plant, and when she did, she would almost always find some pests to get rid of. It was almost like instinct.

It wasn't really instinct. Aerith pretended she didn't hear the Planet, most of the time, but she did. Her voice whispered at her how to take care of her flowers.

And well, _that_ Aerith she could accept. She'd started to listen more when it came to her plants, because she cared about those, and she wanted to see them thrive. She still didn't exactly love being an Ancient, but she had to admit it could be useful. Maybe it was the reason only she in all of Midgar could make these flowers bloom.

It was a good use for her inheritance. A lot of flowers would mean a lot of money, or so Zack said. Aerith wasn't quite so sure she would earn a lot, but she wouldn't say no even to a couple gils.

Besides, the place just looked better with flowers growing. Healthier. Aerith did not miss the blue sky in the way others did, but she thought the slums could still use some more color. More green. And more pinks, and yellows, and whites. It would make people happy, she was sure of it.

Maybe it was an impossible dream, but Aerith thought she would have liked to fill Midgar with flowers. It would be good for the city. It would chase away that strange feeling of sickness and heaviness that was always in the air.

It was definitely a more useful job for an Ancient than whatever it was Shinra wanted from her. Of this, Aerith was sure.

Zack had told her he wanted to help her build a wagon to carry her flowers around, next time he came down. She hoped that time would come soon. Not only because she was eager to start, but because she missed him.

She stood up, making to go back towards her house. She stopped after a few steps.

"Asa?" she said.

He still stood where he had been, completely still. His head was tilted as if in thought. He didn't seem to have noticed the slight tug to their bond.

"Is everything alright?" Aerith asked.

Asa blinked, and shook himself. "Sorry. I spaced out."

Aerith frowned. It happened often lately. Asa would stop and stare into space, but he never told Aerith what was going on.

A few days later, Aerith woke up, and found that Asa was an animal she had never seen in her life.

He was strange. As if caught at some point between a goat and a horse. His mane and tail reminded her of the latter, but her hooves were way more goatlike. His fur was short, white with touches of grey. Right in the middle of his forehead was a dark grey horn, one that didn't reach twenty centimeters in length.

Standing up, his shoulder reached only a little higher than Aerith's waist.

Aerith looked at him, taking his appearance in. This was him. This was _her_.

"How do I look?" Asa asked, turning around in the middle of the room.

"A... little silly," Aerith said, breathless.

He snorted. "You get on my case for _years_ about settling, and when I do you still have things to complain about?"

So this was what Asa had been looking for. Aerith wasn't surprised it had taken him so long to get to that form, because she had absolutely no idea what he was even supposed to be.

Her best guess would be that he was a unicorn.

Which was impossible. Daemons did not look like imaginary creatures.

Also, she thought unicorns were like, big, white horses, with this horn the size of her arm. She'd always imagined them that way, at least.

She knelt, and threw her arms around his neck.

He was strange and unusual, but he was _right_. She felt it looking at him, that this was the right form for them, and nothing else would compare.

***

There was a monster in Aerith's church. So Aerith thought, at least. It didn't resemble anything she knew, a huge doglike creature with wings. It was scary.

And yet, it turned out to be harmless. It seemed to want to protect Aerith. According to Zack, it had to be an Angeal-copy, whatever that meant.

To think Aerith already had a surprise for Zack, and now this creature had come and taken all the attention. It was a little rude. Zack was still shaken by this encounter when Aerith decided to approach him.

"Guess what!"

Zack blinked. "Guess...?"

"We settled!"

Zack's mouth fell open. "You- You mean, Asa-"

Aerith nodded. Asa pranced in front of her, showing off his form. "It happened a couple weeks ago. We were waiting for you to come back to show you."

"Now that's good news!" Zack said, smiling widely. "But I gotta say, I have no idea what he is."

"Me neither. All I can guess is some kind of unicorn. Have you ever seen anything like him, outside of Midgar?"

Zack shook his head. "Never. Pretty original, buddy."

Asa shook his mane. He liked to do that, but he had to keep away from people when he did. He still hadn't quite gotten the hang of not stabbing others with the horn. "I couldn't pick a boring form, could I?"

Zack laughed. "Yeah, you're right about that."

Afterwards, however, they didn't really have time to talk about it. Zack was once again called off for duty, all he had time to do was make that flower wagon he had promised. Not for the first time, Aerith found herself wishing he had a less demanding job.

Well, they could talk once he got back. Maybe braid Asa's mane together.

***

Tseng was at the door on the day of Aerith's eighteenth birthday. As predicted.

"Here," Aerith said, shoving the letter at him.

Tseng looked down at it. "Aerith, I've told you before. I'm not a postman."

"You took the others. You can take this one too."

Tseng shook his head. "I shouldn't-"

"I know. And I know you can't tell me where he went, or what happened to him. You've told me. I just want you to give it to Zack, if you can find him."

Tseng hesitated, and then took her letter. He was wearing a bag, some fancy thing that was probably real leather. It moved as he placed the letter inside it. Aerith knew Tseng kept his daemon in there too. Tseng was a Turk, and did not risk being pickpocketed by some slum thief, but even if someone managed to get close enough to put a hand in that bag they would be greeted with venomous teeth.

"Thank you, Tseng," Aerith said.

"You know how you could thank me."

She shook her head. "That wouldn't be thanking you. It would just be doing what Shinra wants me to do."

Tseng's expression was as always inscrutable. Aerith would wager most people believed he had never felt a single emotion in his whole life, but she knew better. He wasn't a bad person, deep down. He would not have already accepted four letters she had written for her missing boyfriend otherwise.

***

Aerith wasn't too sure she liked being topside. Too much open space above her head.

She had to get used to it. People above the plate had more money to spend on flowers than those below it, and she and mom needed to get some. They had issues with the pipes, and needed enough to pay someone to fix them. Maybe even change them.

There were plenty of ways for Aerith to distract herself from that disconcerting open sky while she was there. Topside was so full of colors and people. In the evening, every bar had music coming from it and bright neon lights marking its position. Those were rare in the slums, unless one was in Wall Market. And topside was a lot cleaner than Wall Market, in many ways.

A woman with a child stopped in front of Aerith. "Are those real?"

Aerith nodded, putting on a bright smile. She had learnt fast no one topside ever bought anything if you looked less than radiant at doing business with them. "I grew them all myself."

The woman looked surprised. Her eyes widened when she leaned in, noticing the sweet scent. "May I buy some?"

"That's what I'm here for! Would you like one or more? If you want, I could make a bouquet for you." She was getting pretty good at those. She had had to wrap them in aluminum foil at first, but now she had gotten some nice paper for it.

While she and the woman discussed the prices, the child looked at Aerith with curiosity. He was little, maybe five years old or so. If he was born in Midgar, chances were he had never seen a real flower in his life.

"Are you a fairy?" he asked.

Aerith turned to him. "What makes you think so?"

"You have a unicorn!" he said, pointing at Asa.

"Sam!" his mother chided. "I'm sorry, I've told him not to point at daemons."

"It's alright," Aerith said. Asa had been getting a lot of curious looks ever since settling. "But you are very smart, Sam, you found me out!"

The child's eyes grew huge. "Really?"

Aerith smiled. "And because you are so smart, I'll give you a flower just for you."

"Fairy, uh?" Asa said, as the two left, leaving Aerith's wallet a little fuller.

Aerith shrugged. "Not a complete lie, isn't it?"

***

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," Aerith said.

She was trying to learn how to use thunder Materia. She was tired of having to run and take a longer road every time a monster showed up in her path. She wanted to be able to take care of herself, at least against some small fry. Her Materia skills were getting pretty good, she thought.

There were still small... mishaps. Like accidentally destroying a bench in the church and having Angeal wake up from his nap thinking there was danger.

She had taken to calling the strange dog in her church Angeal. He was, after all, an Angeal-copy. She still had no idea what that meant, exactly, but she was fairly sure it had to do with this creature having part of the original Angeal's DNA. So technically he _was_ Angeal. Aerith hoped the real one didn't mind.

Angeal shook his head, having apparently understood Aerith had just made noise by accident. He had some strange sort of intelligence. He couldn't answer her, and so she wasn't too sure just how much of her words he understood, but he always seemed to be listening to her when she spoke.

He was fairly silent company, spending most of the time napping or lying around in a corner. He was still nice to have around. Aerith had never truly realized how little people she had that she was close with until Zack had disappeared. Her job kept her busy, but she found herself incredibly lonely at times.

She was working on making new friends, but she had to admit it wasn't going too fast. She could have a friendly chat with a lot of them, at least. Still, she didn't have anyone she was really close to, other than her mom. It was nice to find Angeal waiting for her when she came back to her church.

He also looked lonely. Aerith wondered if he missed someone. Did the dog have people that took care of him before becoming a copy, or had he just been a lab experiment? Did he have an owner once? Or was his mind now that of the original Angeal, and if so, was it Angeal who missed people? His old friends, family?

Or maybe his daemon. If a part of the first Angeal was indeed inside that dog, he had to be missing her terribly. Aerith could not imagine a life without Asa. Even if this Angeal-copy didn't remember the daemon of the original Angeal, maybe he still knew there was something missing. A part of him that was no longer there.

He just seemed so sad at times. Not an animal, but not really a man anymore. No daemon, no friends. He looked sick too in some way, like his body was slowly giving out underneath him.

Aerith hoped at least her company could make him a little happier.

Then one day he disappeared.

Not long after that, Aerith knew Angeal was no longer alive. She hoped he had died for something that truly mattered.

***

"Aerith, you're home early," Elmyra said.

Aerith stood in the doorway, eyes downcast.

"Aerith? Hey, what happened?" Elmyra took her face between her hands, gently turning it up. "What's wrong?"

Aerith swallowed. "Zack."

"Zack? Don't tell me that boy came back after all this time."

Mom sounded angry. She had accepted that Aerith was dating a SOLDIER, but had never really liked it. She probably thought he had just showed up again like nothing happened. If he had come back after five years, without having sent even a letter, Aerith would have been angry too.

But he hadn't.

"He returned to the Planet," she whispered.

"Oh. Oh, Aerith."

Mom hugged her, and Aerith fell against her shoulder.

She shouldn't feel sad for him, the part of her that was an Ancient said. He was with the Planet now, and that was a good place to be. Everyone returned to her one day. Her first mom had explained it to Aerith when she was little. Zack was happy now, with his friend Angeal, in that same place Aerith's mom was.

That didn't stop the tears welling in her eyes. After so long, she had started to consider Zack her ex, had given up on that relationship. It still hurt to know for sure that now she would never see him again, until the day she died as well. Never hear him laugh or crack a joke, never look in those shockingly blue eyes, never see Dalia smile her dog smile.

At least he had been there to see Asa settled. Not for long, but he had seen Aerith the way she truly was.

***

There was a definite sense of deja-vu when a boy crashed through the church roof.

Well, he was very different from Zack. He was blonde, and paler than Zack had ever been. Stoic in a way that was more awkward than genuine. He was sarcastic and acted as if he had only a very vague idea of how to be nice to other. Cute, in his way, but also somewhat infuriating.

At the same time, he was like Zack. He wore a battered SOLDIER uniform, and the sword he carried was eerily like Zack's old one. Mako green pooled in the depths of his blue eyes. And... maybe Aerith was just seeing things, but in a way it almost seemed to her as if some of his mannerism were familiar. Maybe something about the way he walked.

His daemon was not with him when he fell, but that didn't worry Aerith. She knew how far a SOLDIER could be from a daemon.

Yet... there was something strange about Cloud. Part of Aerith screamed that there was something _wrong_ going on with him, and the bond he had to his daemon. Aerith had no idea what, she just knew something wasn't right.

Meeting his daemon, Aerith was even more confused. The cat was closed in a constant, morose silence. Her behavior was almost disturbing to look at.

Something very bad had to have happened to those two.

***

Aerith's life had been steadily spiraling downwards for days now.

First, she'd had that creep of Corneo leer at her – dressing up in Wall Market had been fun, but that man was just disgusting. Aerith had felt offended on Tifa's and Cloud's behalf too when the pervert had turned his eyes on them.

Then the Plate. So many people had returned to the Planet in that moment that it had left Aerith's ears ringing with their voices. She had always known Shinra had no morals to speak of, but never she would have thought they would have gone so far. The _cloud_ of Dust that had rode from all those dead daemons was the most sickening sight Aerith had ever seen.

At least, she had managed to take the little girl to safety. That had gone well, until Tseng had showed up, his daemon coiled around his neck the way she did when they wanted to look scary, and had managed to drag Aerith back to Shinra. She hoped he was proud of himself for finally crossing that off his to-do list.

And _now_ , because all of that hadn't been enough, she was locked in a cage like an animal, and the most horrible man she had ever had to meet was talking to her from the other side of the glass.

Aerith didn't remember a lot of her childhood in the labs, but she had some vague memories of the doctor with the woman daemon. He was evil. He used to come and take Aerith's mom away. And now he stood there and told Aerith what had been done of Ifalna's corpse, and Aerith wanted to throw up.

She wouldn't. That would give him far too much satisfaction.

His daemon had her eyes fixed on Asa now. Seeing a daemon in human form made Aerith's skin crawl. She looked a lot like her human, enough that someone might have mistaken them for siblings. A lab coat was wrapped around her, to hide her body.

"And such a striking daemon," Hojo said, his gaze turning to Asa. "I've never seen one such as yours, and I would call myself an expert on unusual daemons. I wonder what that tells us."

The woman daemon. "I look forward to studying you," she said.

Just perfect. The human studied other humans, the daemon studied other daemons. They both had hands to take notes, after all.

Aerith had no intention of speaking a single word to them, but Asa walked to the window, staring the woman daemon straight in the eyes. "I look forward to stabbing you with my horn."

Even with no horns to speak of, Aerith shared that sentiment.

***

Aerith panted, holding her skirt up with her hand. No one had ever told her walking outside of Midgar was so hard. The hill they were climbing did not have a proper road, only a narrow path carved in rock. Aerith's legs were starting to burn from the strain of walking up there.

Asa, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. His legs were apparently rather well suited to this terrain. He didn't even have to stay on the path, and was as far ahead of her as their bond allowed.

Aerith huffed. She needed a break. Ever since they had broken out of Shinra, they hadn't rested a moment. She was just a city florist, she couldn't keep on much longer.

With a surprised shout, Aerith felt her leg slip backwards. It seemed not all the rocks were stable.

Two hands steadied her, holding her at the waist.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked.

Aerith nodded, straightening up. "I think so."

"Take your time. This road isn't easy if you aren't used to it."

"Is it always like this outside of cities?"

"Depends. The mountains around Nibelheim could be much worse."

"What? How did you live around there?"

Tifa laughed. "With a lot of practice."

"Is there a problem?" Cloud shouted. He was second in line after Red XIII, and had almost reached the top of the hill already.

Unfair. He had to using all that SOLDIER strength for sure, no way he could be climbing that fast naturally.

"Slow down a little, will you?" Tifa shouted.

"There's no need-"

"Aerith, don't worry. Take the time you need, that one just likes to run," Tifa said. "Now be careful, alright? I'll go give Barret a hand."

Ah. Yes, Aerith was not the only one struggling here. Barret was coming last, and he didn't seem to be having fun. He was more sure of how to move than Aerith, it seemed, but the path was not a large one. It definitely did not have enough space for a bear daemon like his.

Tifa went back, Edel hopping behind her, going to help him find a way. Aerith turned back up, and kept on climbing.

"Don't step there," Asa told her.

"It looked stable," Aerith complained, moving around the rock.

"It wasn't."

"How do you even know?"

Asa swished his tail. "I just know it, I guess."

With a lot more panting and slipping, Aerith reached the top. Cloud was so generous at to help her up, holding his hands out for her so that she could past a particularly big rock. He was getting better at being kind with others. With some work, he might even learn how to be polite.

Asa tried to lower his head and talk to Regn. As always, Cloud's daemon walked away from him. No matter how determined Asa was, she seemed to staunchly refuse any form of friendship.

"Do we have to go down now?" Aerith asked, looking to the other side.

"Rest. We'll wait for the others," Cloud replied.

Really, Barret didn't have a lot of problems climbing up. Didn't even need Tifa to guide him. Bernadette was the one struggling. Edel hopped around various rocks, trying to figure out a way for the other daemon to climb that wouldn't require going too far from her human. Hopefully Bernadette would figure it out, all other daemons were way too small to carry her.

***

There was a lot of knowledge in Cosmo Canyon that no one outside of it remembered. Oral traditions, written traditions. So much that Aerith felt she was swimming inside of it, unable to take it all in.

_The Cetra were noted to mature physically at the same pace as humans, and Cetra children reportedly developed faster emotionally than human ones. However, it was reported that Cetra daemons settled particularly late. The most common age was about fifteen or sixteen years old, one or two years older than is considered normal for most human groups._

_The reason for this difference is not quite known. It's theorized the Cetra's unique connection to the Planet might have been at the root of it. Dust studied have shown that daemons become connected to the flow of Dust upon settling, which can only happen once the child has reached sufficient emotional maturity._

_While instinctually tied to the Planet, Cetra's understanding of it grew with age, and a certain degree of maturity was necessary to fully comprehend Her. It's hypothesized that only after a Cetra reached that level of attunement to the Lifestream they could settle. It is notable how Cetra who showed a very strong understanding of the Planet would at times settle faster, including at the common age human children do._

_On the other hand, those of Cetra blood who struggled more with their connection tended to settle later. Anecdotally, it is known of an instance of a mixed blood child living a century before the writing of this book, who was not aware of his Cetra heritage and unable to understand what the Planet's voice was. His daemon settled at nineteen, a very late age for either kind._

"Is my library interesting?"

Aerith raised her eyes from the book, looking up at Bugenhagen. "Very. I'm finding answers to... a lot of questions."

Bugenhagen hummed. "That book is about daemons, right?"

"Yes. I always wondered why Asa had taken so long to settle."

"What age?"

"Seventeen."

Bugenhagen whistled. "That's rather late indeed."

Aerith tilted her head, looking at the old man who seemed to know more things that anyone else did. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course!"

"Here it says Cetra had daemons much like humans. Have you ever heard of them taking the shape of imaginary animals, like Asa did?"

Bugenhagen laughed. "Oh, but he's perfectly regular."

"How?"

"Unicorns are thought to be imaginary  _now_ , but like many other legends they are rooted in real creatures. They were supposedly very common back when the Cetra civilization was at its peak. I've read a lot about them, you know. There were two species, yours I would say is the mountain kind. The other one was a larger animal that preferred open spaces."

Aerith's mouth dropped open. "Unicorns are real?"

"Were, technically. Both species went extinct various centuries ago. You know, it is thought all daemons – of humans and Cetra alike – have a unique connection to nature through their Dust. That's how they can take the shapes of animals they have never seen. Your Asa must have an unusually strong connection, for him to find a species that no longer exists."

Oh.

Well, that was appropriate.

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons featured:  
> Asa - unicorn  
> Dalia - pitbull  
> Regn (Regnbogi) - cat  
> Edel (Edelweiss) - rock wallaby  
> Bernadette - brown bear  
> Tseng's daemon - king cobra


End file.
